Central Pulse ease past Southern Steel for back-to-back ANZ Premiership wins

At TSB Arena, Wellington: Central Pulse 58 (Amelia Walmsley 42/45, Tiana Metuarau 13/15, Joyce Mvula 2/3) Southern Steel 37 (Georgia Heffernan 20/22, Jess Allen 13/22, Meleitia Tatupu 4/7) 1Q: 13-8; HT: 27-16; 3Q: 40-28

The Central Pulse have made it two wins from two in the ANZ Premiership after easing past the Southern Steel 57-37 at TSB Arena in Wellington on Saturday night.

After edging past the Stars by a single goal last weekend at Fly Palmy Arena in Rotorua, the Pulse had a much easier time of it this weekend on their home court.

The depleted Steel were more competitive than they were in their first-up 26-goal hammering at the hands of the Northern Mystics, but still fell to another heavy defeat.

They welcomed goal defence Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit back from injury to play her 200th domestic netball match and took an early lead, but fell behind after five minutes and never caught up.

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A three-goal flurry in the final two minutes of the opening period gave the Pulse a 13-8 lead at the first break and a seven-goal run in the middle of the second quarter meant the home team had a healthy buffer at halftime.

Goal shoot Amelia Walmsley backed up from her impressive first start for the Pulse with another solid showing and finished with 42 goals from 45 attempts – a success rate of 93.3%.

The Steel held strong in the third quarter, only losing it by a single goal, but lost touch in the final period and set a new record low for goals scored in a 60-minute ANZ Premiership match when they couldn’t equal the 38 they netted in round one.

The big moment

The end of the first quarter was a crucial passage of play – the Steel had been neck and neck with the Pulse for most of the opening period, but they conceded the last three goals and just like that, a two-goal margin was a five-goal margin and the momentum was on the home team’s side.

Best on court

The last thing the Steel needed was to come up against a defender of the calibre of Kelly Jury, who was instrumental in helping the Pulse build the lead they did during the second quarter.

Match rating

4/10: There wasn’t much of a contest here, though the Steel deserve credit for avoiding going down as heavily as they did in round one.

The big picture

Back-to-back wins have the Pulse sitting atop the ANZ Premiership ladder, but one of the Mystics or Mainland Tactix will join them there after they meet on Sunday afternoon. The Steel meanwhile have a two-day turnaround before they take on the Stars in Auckland on Monday night.